Page 5 of Tempting the Player
We park - I get butterflies, but Jess is taking it in her stride. I wish I could be as laid-back as she is sometimes, well, most of the time. The hall is busy and noisy, with adults and children mingling. There’s a table set at the front of the room with tea and coffee facilities, so while Pat takes Jess off to meet the other children, I go to get us a tea. As I'm about to walk away, I hear an unfamiliar voice.
“Hey, Kate.”
I turn around, and my mouth drops open. There, standing right in front of me, is an older - but still handsome as hell -Nathan Harris. Oh shit. I crane my neck to check him out. Still huge, and broad, and that lovely floppy hair that cries out for fingers to delve in it. His brown eyes are smiling as he grins down at me, making his dimples put in an appearance. I wasjustthinking about him – how weird. I haven’t seen this guy for ten years. How does he still remember my name?
I get flustered - I've been staring.
“Oh, er… um, hello. How are you doing, Nathan?” Real cool, Kate. I glance around, searching for answers. Is he a dad? “What are you doing here?”
He smirks at me as if to say, ‘What do you think I’m doing here?’ Smart arse. “My daughter’s starting school here in September.”
Fuck. My stomach plummets. I’m going to be seeing a lot of him.
“Oh, right, mine too.”
“It’s been a long time - got to be ten years, hasn’t it?” he asks.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Something flashes in his eyes - he's remembering our night together. “You look as amazing now as you did then, Kate… even more so.” His light blue eyes twinkle, and I get a tingling sensation in my stomach - he still has the power to do that to me, then. Great.
He asks, “Who are you here with? Your husband?”
“My ex-husband and my daughter. How about you?”
Something fleeing passes on his face - could it have been relief? “Just me and my girl, Lucia. Her mum isn’t around.” Hmm, I wonder where she is.
“You’re raising her alone?” I ask him.
He nods, “Yeah, with the help of my family and my in-laws.” He looks right into my eyes and smiles softly at me, “It’s great tosee you again.” His gaze rakes down my body to my feet and back up again. Why do I suddenly feel naked?
He carries on, “You lookreallygood.” He says quietly.
Uh oh, dangerous ground here, he's giving me the look. If the last time he met me is anything to go by, he probably presumes he can get a quickie from me whenever he wants, and who could blame him? From our history, he probably assumes I sleep around, he has no idea that he’s only one of three - I was easy and available to him last time. I’m not that girl anymore, I never was really, except for him, but I’ve grown up, and being a mum comes before everything for me. Jess changed me, and now she's the most important thing in my life. Long gone are nights of booze, staying out all night and hook-ups. My perfect night these days is curled up on the couch with her in our pyjamas, watching a Disney film.
The headteacher starts to talk, asking us to take our seats. We both remember that we’re in a school hall right now, so I give him a parting smile and take a seat next to Patrick, who’s already sitting. Nathan is watching me as I sit, but I purposely don’t look at him. I'm glad I made an effort with my outfit. I'm wearing a navy, knee-length, fitted sundress with tiny pink flowers. I have my hair tied in a loose knot on top of my head, wedges, and a little makeup – I wanted to make a good impression on the other parents.
Shit . . . I can’t believe I’ll be seeing him every day; I assume he’ll be doing the school run. I can’t help but be attracted to him, every female everywhere would fancy this guy - that’s the problem - he gets offered it too easily, or did back in the day anyway – it was a long time ago, but he seems to have matured even better. What is it about men that they get better with age, while women have to work harder to appear younger?
I have to keep my distance. He’s charming, he could charm the pants off any girl, and that’s something you don’t lose. I'm not the same girl that I was ten years ago, crushing on a rugby player who had the ability to break my heart. He may not havebroken my heart, but he definitely had the power to do that, if he’d have wanted to… if he’d have wanted me. But he didn’t.
After the headteacher finished his talk, they brought the children back into the school hall. Jess comes back into the room, holding a little girl’s hand. That’s a good sign, maybe she’s already made a friend. Hope fills my heart that she's going to be OK. I'm so proud of her right now. The little girl she’s with is gorgeous, with olive skin, black hair, and big, dark brown eyes. She is so pretty. Jess sees us and comes running over.
“Mummy, mummy, I've made a lovely new friend.”
I smile at her, “Have you, sweetie? That’s lovely. What’s her name?”
Please don’t be Lucia, please don’t be Lucia, please don’t be Lucia.
“It's Lucia, mummy. Isn’t that a lovely name?”
Great.
Chapter 2
It had to happen. Someone hates me up there, or I must have done something terrible in a past life and piss off someone important. Out of all the girls that Jess could have made friends with, who is her new best friend? Lucia . . . of course it’s Lucia - Nathan’s daughter. Three months of school have passed; in this time, they have become inseparable. She is asking if Lucia can come to our house for dinner... bugger. I've been trying to avoid Nathan like the plague, I have it down to a fine art.
For the sake of my child, I’m going to have to talk to him whether I want to or not. My main worry when Jess started school was that she wouldn’t make friends. I should be over the moon that she’s happy about her new friend. I'm going to have to grow up, put my feelings for Lucia’s dad to one side, and bite the bullet and talk to him.
